X-COM: Vigilo Confido
by CunkToad
Summary: 30. March 2015 At 10:51 pm (CET) First Contact with a Unknown Force has been made. Two hours later all hell broke loose. Now Project X-COM is Humanity's only hope. Rated M for strong language and wartime violence. Disclaimer: I don't own any content besides the characters I include into the story
1. Prologue

30. February 2015, Berlin-Germany 10:48 pm

It was a awfully quiet night for the streets of Berlin. The few people who were still outside were walking rather quickly because there was something in the air no one really liked,like it was about to rain or a storm was coming up. Philipp was just walking past a crossing when something enlightened the night sky. People were confused and looked at the strange object which looked like a meteorite but it flew in a rather strange way. Some people started filming it with their cell phones. Then they noticed it was heading straight for the crossing they were standing at.

They ran away in panic, people abandoned their cars and tried to get away from the object which was now only a few seconds away from impact. When it hit the sound was ear deafening. People slowly started to walk to the impact side and tried to get a look at what had just destroyed a few of their cars. The part of the crossing were the strange meteorite crashed was now completely leveled only a crater was left.

Philipp also tried to get a good look at the rock but then he noticed that the rock in fact was no rock at all. It was a object which looked so alien it was hard to imagine humans build it. More and more people came closer to it until one of them tried to touch it.

When he did,it started glowing and strange sounds were panicked and again tried to get away from the device. Suddenly green threads emerged from the object. The threads were fast,very fast, so it only took a few seconds until the first unfortunate person was caught by them.

It was a middle aged man,he struggled, screamed, but he was fighting a loosing battle,the green tentacles pulled him closer to the device. When someone tried to help him,he too was caught by a was now being pulled closer to the machine too. But unlike the other man who had the bad luck of being caught by the waist,the second person was grabbed by the foot. Right when Philipp realised that he started screaming

"Get rid of your shoe maybe you can escape it!"

The man looked up to the crowd for a second but then he started to struggle with his shoe. After what appeared to be hours to the crowd the man got rid of his shoe and somehow managed to squeeze out of the shoe and the green threads grip and ran to the edge of the crater.

Philipp and a couple of other people pulled him the ran as fast as they could. Philipp looked back one time to see what happened to the first victim of the machine he only saw what looked like a spider would do to a fly. The man was now surrounded by the green threads and he didn't struggle anymore. That was the moment Philipp knew that would he have been closer to the machine he would probably be dead by now or worse.

30. February 2015, Stadtallendorf-Germany 11:15 pm

Everybody was doing what he was supposed to do in the event of a hostile attack on Germany. The high ranking officers were being informed at the moment what exactly happened in the streets of Berlin. The only information they had were what the witnesses had told the police and two cell phone videos. The personal of the Headquarter of the Special Operations Division all knew what they had to do. Some soldiers managed the communication between the first responding units in the proximity of Berlin. Others were in contact with the different branches of the divison.

Inside the briefing room Major Christian Hirsch was listening to the briefing of a young Lieutenant

"We don't know what exactly attacked we have reports of the same events on the whole militaries of France, Russia,China,the United States,Israel,Great Britain and Switzerland are already fully mobilised. Our armed forces are at Defcon Orange at the moment. Every soldier we have is being called to his unit at the moment. Reserves will follow when we know that the regular soldiers can't handle the situation. We don't know if this is a act of war or if it is a misunderstanding but hostility is to be assumed. The FSLK200 will provide reconnaissance of the area in which the object was first spotted. The operation will begin as soon as possible. The Squad,Call Sign Aurora, who will carry out the mission is on it's way to Berlin right now, estimated time of arrival at Ground Zero is in 50 Minutes. They are flying to a airport in the proximity of Berlin right now. Then they will take a helicopter to the crossing where the object was last seen by police forces who closed off the area to everyone but the military. When we have a better understanding of the situation we will proceed accordingly. Any Questions?"

Christian raised his hand " Do we know how many casualties the devices have inflicted?"

The Lieutenant looked at his clipboard " All over Germany we have 62 deaths related to the devices. 47 of them were killed due to the object crashing into buildings. The rest apparently activated a defence mechanism which pulled them to the device and got engulfed by green threads. They are presumed to be dead."

Another man, this time someone Christian didn't recognised, raised his hand.

"Yes Captain?"

The man cleared his throat " Do we know if only the devises landed?"

The Lieutenant again looked at his clipboard "Based on our current information they are alone, but we will know for sure once Aurora is at the impact spot."

After that a few more questions followed but it was not possible to answer them due to the lack of information.

30. Feburary 2015, Airfield outside Berlin-Germany 11:55 pm

The silence in the helicopter was rather calming for Feldwebel Swen Baader. It was the silence that always occurred before the landing of the Long Range Recon Unit. Everyone was doing a last minute check of his gear, making sure everything was right were they needed it. The man next to Swen, René Maurer, the newest soldier in his squad, looked very nervous or at least very nervous for someone used to being sent into the unkown.

"Hey René, what's the matter?" Swen asked ,breaking the silence in the back of the NH90.

"Oh it's nothing really." René said ," It's just what if we are attacked by aliens?"

Swen looked at his gun and then back to René again. He thought about what his friend just said and tried to come up with an appropriate response

"I guess we will find out once we are there and if shit hits the fan, I got your back."

René looked calm again and took a last look at his gun. The soldiers noticed that they were getting slower and when the Pilot said what everyone expected:

"We're at the crash side"

Two men threw down a rope on each side of the helicopter and the Squad Leader said :"Alright, time to find out what destroyed that poor crossroad."

**A/N:** **Okay this is the first chapter of my very first try to write a fanfic. I am sorry for all the mistakes in the text but I am not a native speaker of you liked the Prologue please tell me and I will write more I already thank you for each review you will post. If I continue this fanfic I stick to the Enemy Within Plot, meaning I will first play that game, THEN I will continue after operation Devil's moon( the tutorial) to make sure that I get everything correct according to canon. Maybe I will give it a try and go a bit outside of canon, and by that I mean add a few missions I came up with or change the story missions a bit , but not in their outcome. If you wonder why I placed it in Germany, I did it for two reasons, first I am german. Second in the game it looked like Germany was attacked first. **

**Next up : Ending of the Prologue,Council Meeting and Operation Devils Moon,**


	2. Prologue Part 2

1. March 2015 ,Ground Zero Berlin-Germany 12:03 pm

Swen was the first one to slide down the rope to the ground. The moment he his feet touched the ground he cleared the way for the next soldier. He looked through the sight of his G36c and took in his surroundings. The first thing he noticed were the abandoned police cars a few meters away from him. The lights of the cars were still on so he figured they couldn't be standing there for very long. While Swen was still looking at the strange scene that was displayed to him the rest of his squad made it to the ground. The Squad Leader, Captain David Wächter, too looked at the scene for a few seconds

"Okay time to figure out what happened here, René you take point."

"Yes Sir" the man replied

René lifted his gun and started to move after he was away a few meters the rest of his unit followed.

"Aurora 1-1 this is Central what is your situation" the radio of Captain Wächter sounded.

"Central this is Aurora, we just landed and have began to search the area for activity. There are a few abandoned police cars which look like they were occupied until a few minutes ago but besides them the area is empty. We will report the second we find something over" Wächter replied.

"Copy that Aurora 1-1 Central out." and with that the silence returned.

The men continued their search for a few more minutes until they came to the crossing or at least what was left of it. In the crater which now replaced the cross road was the device they were informed about. The briefing officer told them to stay away from it and not wanting to find out what it does they stayed clear of it. Swen took a look at the machine and spotted a human figure engulfed by green strings. He realised that that was probably the defence mechanism which was triggered by contact with the object.

"Okay we will take a look at that warehouse over there" the captain ordered.

The soldiers started to make their way to the building until they reached the é and Swen were the first to reach the door and got into position on each side of the Swen felt the pat of Wächter on his back then he nodded to René and they slowly opened the door and each squad member went into his direction securing the perimeter.

"Central this is 1-1 we have searched the area and have found nothing of intere..."

As the Captain was about to finish his sentence a member of Swen's squad interrupted him

"Wait did you hear that?"

The captain looked at him "Heared what?"

As the soldier was about to say something the radio of the Wächter came back to life

" Aurora 1-1 you were about to say something?"

The squad leader pushed the speak button on his radio" Central we may have a situation here it seems we are not alone in the building anymore.I will report when we are sure there is nothing inside of here. 1-1 over."

Wächter then again turned his attention back to the soldiers"Okay guys swarm out and figure out what made that sound, report immediately when you find something."

Swen headed into the direction the sound came from and scanned the room for it's origin. He felt slightly nervous if he was honest with himself. Outside was a strange machine of unkown origin, they were a small recon squad of only 8 men and now they had to split up to find what possibly came down with that thing in the crater. He took a deep breath and calmed himself again. He figured that they probably just heared an animal and that there was a reasonable explanation to everything that hat happened in the last two hours. He was about to search another part of the warehouse when his radio caught his attention.

"Captain, you have to see this." the voice of one of his fellow operators said.

He almost ran to the position where his team member had reported something strange. When he arrived he saw that he was the last one to arrive, he didn't even realise how far he had wandered of while searching the warehouse, he noted to himself to never again get that distracted on a mission.

"Captain what are we supposed to do?" Swen heared as he took the last steps to see what his comrade had found.

" I don't know." his superior replied.

Now Swen saw why Captain Wächter was clueless of their next step. There in the corner of the warehouse set three creatures Swen had never before seen outside a movie. They were approximately 1.20 meters tall, grey and were glowing on some body parts, especially their stomach. The unit had been through much in their time together but this was the first time no one knew what to do. As the captain was about to do something, the creature in the middle which looked a bit different fromt he other two turned around. It stared at the squad for a second and then lifted his right arm.

"WEAPON!" René screamed at the top of his lungs.

Everybody dove for the nearest cover they could find. One member of Swen's team was not fast enough and was hit by a green bolt of light, he collapsed and didn't move anymore, dead Swen figured. As they tried to return fire at their unknown enemy another two members of Swen's team were killed by the aliens. Alien, that was the only term Swen found to describe the beings who had just killed three of his friends.

" We have to get out of here!" another member screamed.

"OKAY OKAY, René , Swen you provide cover fire. The rest of you, run to that door, don't turn back just run! On three!"

*three* Swen prepared to shoot.

*two* René started to get up

*one* the two of his team memberes got ready to run as fast as they could

"FIRE!" Wächter screamed.

Swen and René shot up from their cover behind some crates and took only a second to find their targets, then assault rifle fire enlightened the warehouse. The two other soldiers started a run for their lifes. The few seconds they took to reach the door seemed like hours to Swen,René and their captain.

"Swen, René it's your turn to make a run for it!" Wächter barked between his fire bursts.

The moment they heared it they hurried to the door. The rest of Swen's team provided as much cover fire as possible for them. When Swen and René reached the safety of the door which lead back to the street they got into cover behind a window and prepared to cover their squad leader.

"CAPTAIN", René screamed.

They heared a scream and then the familiar voice of their squad leader." THEY ARE IN MY HEAD RU... I am fine."

Swen somehow knew what was about to happen."Incoming!" he screamed.

He and the rest of his squad took cover just in time. A burst of assault rifle fire hit the wall they were standing at.

"What the hell?!" one of Swen's squad member screamed.

" Didn't you here the Captain? He said they are in his head!" Swen shouted back.

"What do you mean by that?" René barked.

"I have no idea but what ever is shooting at us, it's not the Captain!"

One of his team memberes opened his mouth." Are you saying what I think you are trying to say? We are not leaving him behin..."

He was stopped mid sentence by another green bolt of light which hit him in the stomach. He screamed agony as he saw a huge hole with his guts hanging out. "FUCK!" he shouted.

"René , carry him to that bus stop!" Swen ordered." We will cover you!" he added.

"Go for fucks sake!" he barked.

He and his team mate, Tim opened fire into the darkness of the warehouse. René carried his wounded comrade to the bus stop and placed him against the wall only to see that he was already dead.

"Swen he's dead!" he called to the rest of his team.

"René call the helicopter we're out of here he ordered.

"Big Bird 1 this is Aurora 1-6 we need immediate evac! Hostile contact has been made, 5 team members are KIA. I repeat hostile contact has been made, 5 KIAs! The LZ is hot I repeat you're coming in hot."René informed the pilot of the NH-90.

"Copy that Aurora 1-6 Big Bird will be in the LZ in 15 seconds prepare for hot evac" , the pilot answered.

Swen and Tim ran as fast as they could to get to René's position. 20 meters would normaly be no problem for a trained Long Range Recon Operator but being attacked by aliens made it a far more difficult. They reached the bus stop just in time to see Big Bird rise behind a building.

"Aurora 1-6 this is Big Bird. Get in the ." René heard over his radio.

"Okay get into the NH90"

Suddenly there was a green flash and it connected with the side of their only chance of evacuation. Big Bird started to spin uncontrolled,

"We're going down I repeat Big Bir..." the chopper hit the ground and exploded.

"Shit, check for survivors!" Tim, one of Swen's two remaining screamed.

"All dead." René answered with a nervous voice.

"Okay, we run. Now." Swen said and his squad ran into the night of Berlin, hoping to regroup with a unit of the Bundeswehr somewhere in the capitol.

One hour later, somewhere in the proximity of Oxford-Great Britain

Dylan Gibbons had been working for the Council of Nations, a secret alliance between some of the world's most powerful nations in case a global disaster occurred, for years. Two months ago, after 25 years of living with knowledge only few people around the world had, he went into retirement. So he didn't expect to get a call that included the code word for a worst caste scenario. It took him a few moment's to understand the code but when he did he only asked, breaking all protocol

"Project X-COM... activated? Are you sure? This is not a drill?"

The young voice on the other end replied " I am afraid it is not Mr. Gibbons. You know what to do, you will be picked up in fifteen minutes."

**A/N : So the second chapter is done with this, I decided not to put the council meeting and Devil's Moon into this because I thought it would be nice if I made the prologue longer. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, please tell me how I can improve myself. **

**Next up : Council Meeting and Devil's Moon.**


	3. Chapter 1 So it begins

1. March 2015 ,somewhere in Britain 2:12 pm

Dylan Gibbons didn't even had the time to tell his wife where he was going, but on the other hand he couldn't tell her anyway. So when he recieved the call he quickly told her he had to leave and that he loved her. He lied to her about why he was needed, he said that his country once again needed him, which was a half-truth but not only his country but the whole world required his expertise this time.

After the car had picked him up at his home they drove to a location only a few people knew it even existed, the Council of Nations headquarters of Great Britain. It looked like a big office building, but of course that changed once you got closer to it. It was the most strictly guarded place in Great Britain, therefore it was secured in many ways, most notably the cover-up story behind it. To the public it was a production facility for the pharmaceutical industry, which justified the strict safety precautions that are made to ensure that the building is protected.

So when the car got to the gate in front of the building, a security guard stepped up to the window of the car.

"Please identify yourself,Sir." He tried to sound polite but Dylan noticed how his hand instinctively reached for the pistol he carried on his belt. The driver of Dylan's car, a young women, gave their security clearance to the guard.

"Thank you Ma'am. Mr. Gibbons you are awaited, please get to the conference room as soon as possible." the man replied, opening the gate.

They then drove to the main entrance where Dylan got out and hurried to the door. He almost ran up the stairs, because he knew if "Project X-COM" got activated, every second was precious. X-COM, extraterrestrial combat unit. Dylan hoped, he really did, that for once the council was wrong. Because if X-COM got activated, the whole planet is at stake he thought. After a few more levels he reached the floor where the conference room was located. He immediately opened the door and found a rather empty room.

"Mr. Gibbons, you made it that's fantastic." one man said.

"Indeed we can count ourselfs lucky that this many people got here" another one agreed.

"What do you mean?" Dylan asked seemingly confused.

"Wait, you don't know?" the first man muttered in disbelief.

"Know what?"

Now Dylan was almost certain that this time, it was not a drill.

"At 10:48 pm ,Central European Time, strange machines crashed in locations all around the world, it didn't take us long to find a pattern. Besides a few devices everyone hit a major town around the world. New York, Paris, Tokyo... these things came down in densely populated areas all over the planet"

Dylan was speechless for a second but quickly took in the given information. Planet Earth was under attack by an unkown enemy.

"Where did it happen first?" he asked.

"Our first reports came in from Berlin. The german army already sent in a recon squad but they went dark after they told command that they were going to search a warehouse. Similar situations occurred all over the world whenever a team was sent to investiage the area where these devices landed. We assume they are all KIA."

Dylan Gibbons spent some of his time for the council on missions with the Royal Marine Commandos, so he knew what it took to take out a reconnaissance-squad before they could report what they found. It was this knowledge that made him afraid of what the hostile beings were capable of, or at least what their technology could do.

"Is a X-COM Squad already capable of being deployed?" Dylan asked.

"Yes."a well known voice suddenly said.

Dylan turned to the video screen in the room to see a familiar figure on it. The "voice" of the council. Better known as Omega, the person who spoke for some of the most powerful people on the world. Dylan knew him for years but , he didn't knew what he looked like because his face was always hidden in the shadows.

"Omega, long time no see" Dylan said with a ironic emphasis on see.

"Very funny, Dylan. Now you now why you are here, you will have to help us once again, because you are one of the best agents the council has. You will be in charge of taking care of more... personal issues." the man on the other end replied.

"Stop being so cryptic Omega if you want me, you will tell me exactly what I am supposed to do, otherwise I am out." Dylan said

He was sure Omega knew he was bluffing, being the man he was he would never abandon his country in a time like this.

"We will need the whole world in order to win this Dylan. Someone will have to have to ensure that they... cooperate. You retired with six months ago I am sure you are still in shape. After all you only just turned 45. We both know you could only retire this early because we pulled some strings."

Dylan sighed somehow he knew that Omega wouldn't have done him that favour six months ago if he wouldn't want Dylan to return it at one point.

"So you want me to make my hands dirty for you again?" he stated.

"You could say that" Omega replied with his usual monotone voice.

"Okay fine, but I'll do it my way." Dylan said with a very serious tone.

Omega was quite for a few seconds but then agreed to Dylans terms.

"And Dylan, welcome back from retirement." The freshly un-retired man could have sworn he saw Omega smirk when he said it.

"Whatever. Do you still need me here?" Omega answered by vanishing from the screen."I guess that means no." Dylan muttered as he left the room.

1. March 2015 ,X-COM Headquarters 2:48 pm

"Hurry up people" Central Officer Bradford said loud enough so everyone in the control room could here it.

"I want the hologlob up and running in 2 minutes!" he ordered.

"The commander will be here any minute. I don't want him to have to wait because we are having trouble with our own equipment."

A technician finished connecting some cables and said what Bradford had waited for "Sir, the hologlob is ready now, press the button!"

Bradford eagerly pressed the button and turned around to find the person who would command them all.

"Commander, my name is Central Officer Bradford, I will be in charge of hologlob room. This is where we keep track of all ongoing operations..."

Bradford was interruped when one of the communication specialists shouted "

Sir, Voodo 3-1 is now closing in on Ground Zero now. Operation Devil's Moon is ready to begin!" Bradford turned around

"Okay connect me to the pilot of the Skyranger. Voodo 3-1 this is Central, do you copy?"

1. March 2015 ,German Airspace 2:52 pm

Aaron Martin Kamp was, at least according to him, the best pilot on this damn planet so when he was asked two months ago if he wanted to fly one of the most advanced planes on the planet he didn't say no. Now two months later, he flew the Skyranger with his co-pilot Rebecca Allen to a possible hostile contact with aliens, he was a little nervous to say at least.

"Voodo 3-1 this is Central, do you copy?" his radio came to life.

"Central this is Voodo 3-1" his co-pilot replied.

"What's your status?" the central officer asked.

"We are now closing in on the landing zone." There was a short silence "Copy that Voodo good luck."

"Copy that Central Voodo 3-1 out."

In the back fo the Skyranger Santiago Martinez was shifitng in his seat. He looked around the back of the plane. There was one familiar face, a american by the name Leeroy J. Enkins, but then there were two people he didn't recognized, one was a russian that looked like he had seen some shit. The other one was a japanese women, she looked rather young but also quite tough. He was about to start a conversation when he noticed that they were slowing down and then felt the VTOL land on the ground. The ramp went down and the voice of the pilot sounded

"Okay Delta you know your mission get out there and give them hell."

Santiago was the first one to leave the plane and his comrades quickly followed securing the area.

"Delta 1 take point." the voice of the central officer ordered.

**A/N: So Chapter 3 is done, I tried to add what I think happened before the disaster in the first mission, I hope you can understand that the stuff Dylan will do won't be what we are used to from X-COM Gameplay. I think I will try to have him go around the world and do a lot of high risk operations. Like a black-op Operator only for the Council. I think he will also come into contact with EXALT waaay before X-COM and I will try to add a bit more back story to what happens when countries leave the council and also write a few chapters about regular soldiers fighting the actual war, that's the reason I introduced the Major on the first page to be honest. The civilian will also appear again so stay tuned ;)**

**Till next time.**

**Next up : Devil's Moon Ending and a bit X-COM basestuff, by that I mean introducing the characters who will play bigger roles.**


	4. Chapter 2 Devil's Moon

"Delta 1 take point."

"Copy that Central", Delta 1, Leroy J. Enkins answered and moved to cover behind some debris a few meters in front of his position. He realised that it didn't over much cover so he moved to a police car.

"Okay now it's your turn Delta 2 get into cover", Bradford ordered Santiago. He too went for the debris and then searched better cover from there. He saw a statue and moved to it's edge.

"Delta 3 move to that vehicle dead ahead." as soon as Central said it the russian squad member moved to the car.

"Central I have movement, 30 meters north of my position, police vehicle" , he said with a calm voice.

"Roger proceed to the next vehicle for a better vantage point", Bradford replied. The russian immediately obeyed, moving to a car which was crushed by a piece of concrete.

"Delta 4 go check it out. It's a long way from your position and there is no available cover from here to there so you better double time it."

The japanese women rushed to the police car and pressed her back against it. She took a peek around the side of the car.

"Holy hell." she muttered seemingly shocked.

"What do you see Delta 4. Report. ?" Central demanded to know.

"Looks like one of the recon team sir." starring at the almost dead men in front of him, he looked very strange. "It looks like something..." she was cut off by the static of a radio. She instantly raised her gun to look around.

"Hiiilfeee..." the person sounded like he was wounded she noted.

"Is that you man Delta 4?" Bradford asked.

"Negative sir. That's someone else." She answered looking at her surroundings.

"Hiiilfeee..."

"Doctor Vahlen, what's he saying?" Bradford asked the head of X-COM Research.

"He is saying help me. That radio transmission is coming from somewhere north of the squads current position. Based on it's strengt probably from inside a structure."

"Thank you Doctor" Bradford said. "Delta advance and infiltrate that building. And remember, stay in cover."

Delta 1 dashed for a car in front of the building where the signal probably came from. Santiago moved to a bus stop ahead of him.

"Central I have a lot of blood here." he informed Central.

"Roger see where it's coming from."

He moved around the edge of the bus stop to find a man with his guts spilled in front of him.

"Central I think I just found another one of the recon team. Or what's left of him. But this doesn't make sense, it looks like he's been dead for a week."

"If a apoplexy is the cause of death it appears that he was eviscerated when something burst out of him from the inside." Doctor Vahlen answered to Santiago.

"Sir I have visual on the object, permission to approach" Delta 3 said.

"It's the only cover between you and that building, permission granted."

The russian moved to the object and took cover.

"Talk to me soldier what is it?" Bradford asked.  
"I have no idea what that thing is but I can confirm that it's no satellite." The russian answered.

"Roger. Alright Delta Squad we are almost at the building keep moving." Bradford ordered.

Delta 4 ran to the police car which stood on the right side of the building.

"Okay people let's get inside. Delta 1 there is a window in front of you, let's take a look."

"In position." Leroy replied. "Looks clear." he added.

"Copy that, get in there and get to cover."

Leroy jumped through the window shattering the glass with his body. As he landed he ran for the first piece of cover he saw.

"Delta 2 that door is in our way, take it down." Bradford said over the radio.

"Solid copy." Santiago replied running to the door and kicking it in. He ran to a forklift and took cover behind it.

Delta 3 came in after him taking cover behind some barrels on Santiago's left side. He peeked out of his cover to see a man standing in the shadows.

"Hilfee" the man called.

"Central we have eyes on the target. He's armed." Delta 3 informed Bradford.

"Copy Delta 3. Okay everyone get into position near by, but do not approach." he ordered the squad.

"Doctor see if you can communicate with him. Tell him to drop his weapon." he told Vahlen.

"I will try." she replied and then starting to speak german " Hallo, können sie mich hören? Wir sind hier um ihnen zu helfen, bitte lassen sie ihre Waffen fallen."

There was no reply.

"He appears to be in shock." Doctor Vahlen said.

While she had tried to talk to the man the squad had moved in closer to the lone survivor of the recon squad.

"Keep your eyes open people, I don't like the looks of this." he advised the soldiers.

The squad was now only a few meters away from the target. Delta 4 was the closest to the man.

"Delta 3 move in and disarm him. Carefully."

The soldier walked to the person in the shadows. Slowly closing in on him. The man showed no reaction to him so he took the lamp which was hanging from the celling to get a look at his face. What he found shocked him.

"My god..."

The eyes of the man were glowing purple and the area around his eyes was darker then it should be. The russian noticed something behind some crates in the back of the building. It made strange gestures with it's hands.

*Peng*

Santiago heard the familiar noise of a shotgun being fired. His russian comrade was thrown back by the blast of the gun. Luckily the shotgun rounds mostly impacted on the highly armored torso part of Delta 3's kevlar armor so he could still make it out alive. Santiago's hopes were crushed when the man who shot delta 3 raised his other hand to reveal a handgrenade. He pulled out the pin and a few seconds later Delta 3 and the man were engulfed in the deadly rain of shrapnel.

Then Santiago heared movement on his right. Leroy too heard it so he turned around. Now they both saw a strange grey creature aim at Leroy. Before anyone of them could say something green light bolts hit Leroy.

Santiago Martinez had seen much in his time with the argentine special forces but what had happened to his american friend a second ago was something he never had seen before in his 12 years of service. Leroy's head started to melt. The green bolt had turned into liquid and ate itself through Leroy's meat and bone like acid. There was no scream of pain or what you would expect from something like that. Leroy was already dead, mercifully.

"He's down. Delta 1 is down." Delta 4 called out. Just as she was about to lift her head green liqiud impacted in front of her position.

"Central we are under fire from mulitple X-Rays!" Santiago shouted into the radio.

"This guy has got me pinned down, taking heavy fire." his team mate informed him.

"Damnit." Bradford cursed, he had watched the whole situation through the cameras on the shoulder of the members of Delta squad.

"Delta 2 you are flanked too, find some better cover." he ordered like only someone who has already seen combat could.

Santiago dashed for the crate where the dead body of Delta 3 rested.

"Alright Delta 2, weapons free get ready to fire."

Santiago raised himself from behind the crate and aiming at the thing which was too busy shooting at Delta 4 to realise the danger to it's right. Santiago went for the head with his sights. He didn't want to take any risk. The second the target was inside the sights he pulled the trigger.

*bededededum*

Seven rounds hit the creature, the first 4 went a bit lower then Santiago wanted them to be but the rest connected with the target's head. The X-Ray collapsed to the ground. Santiago was glad he could save at least one fo his squad members.

"Nice shot." Bradford commented. "Delta 4 you are freed up to move, get out there and get to cover."

The women made a run for the crates opposite of where the creature was that had killed Delta 1.

"Now throw your grenade at the enemy in front of you." Bradford said.

The moment he had said it Delta 4 threw her frag grenade behind the crates. After a few seconds it exploded and the alien was thrown outside.

"Another one down." Santiago thought.

"Now get ready for their counter-attack." Bradford advised.

"Look out Delta 4 there is another one coming up from behind you." he warned as fast as he could. But he was too late. The grey being rushed to cover, lifted his arm, and fired at Delta 4 hitting her, and killing her instantly.

"Damnit. It's just you now Delta 2. Let's tip the odds in our favor. Look around for a position where you can flank the enemy."

Santiago rushed for a point where he could see the back of the alien.

"That's it. You have a clear shot from that position, fire."

Delta 2 got out of cover. He raised his gone and pulled the trigger. The alien collapsed. Santiago never ever had felt joy after he ended a life. This time it was different. He was glad he could send those two creatures to hell. They had killed his whole squad. He looked around searching for the creature which had controlled the lone survior of the recon team, but he wasn't able to locate it.

"Central I think that's it, it's over." he said with a cold and professional voice.

"Roger that Delta, secure the bodies and head back to the Skyranger for immediate extraction." Bradford replied with a sad tone.

**A/N: So I am sorry this took me a bit longer, but I was busy. Now I know I just wrote the way the first mission plays out but I wanted to stick to canon. And canon starts with this failure. I promise the next chapter will be more of my ideas, less watching the video of the first mission on YouTube and writing down the dialoge of it...**

**Anyways I think the next chapter will be delayed for a bit because I want to stick to the Enemy Within storyline and I don't know if there are any changes to it. Maybe I will write a chapter that's not about X-COM so you guys have something to read over the week.**

**Till next time, your author. I am grateful for each review you can give me and if you have a suggestion how I can better PLEASE tell me.**

**Next up: X-COM base :D**


	5. Chapter 3 A new Squadleader

2015 ,somewhere in West-Poland 3:48 am

Santiago was sitting in the back of the Skyranger recalling the events of the last hour.

First he woke up in the middle of the night to the noise of the alert of the X-COM Headquarters, first he suspected it was a drill, but when he was told that it was serious this time his squad did what they were supposed to do. They rushed to the Armory grabbing their gear. Then they dashed to the Skyranger bay where one of the worlds most advanced planes waited for them, engines roaring. They took their seats in the back of it and then they flew to Berlin. There everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong. First the recon team they were supposed to look for was confirmed to be KIA, no survivors found. Then they got into a ambush and everyone but him was killed. He knew that he could not allow him, or his squad to let that happen again. Sure he already had already see people die. But the weight of being a sole survivor is something that hits even the most experienced. He swore to kill as many aliens as he could.

Skyranger-Cockpit

"You think he will be alright, Beca?" Aaron asked his co-pilot

"It's Major Allen for you First lieutenant Kamp. I thought you marines got discipline drilled into your head during basic training. Your Drill instructor would be disappointed." Rebecca answered with a cold voice.

"Oh excuse me Major Allen", he said as sarcastic as possible "But I thought our ranks don't matter inside X-COM."

"That still doesn't mean that you can call me by my first name. You don't know me Lieutenant Kamp. But I think he will be alright, to answer your question. He is a special forces veteran. They can deal with stuff like that." She said with a annoyed voice.

"If you say so, Beca." he said, enjoying the fact that she looked really pissed right now.

"Why do I even bother to reason with you." she muttered.

"Because you love me?" Kamp replied sarcastic.

"Never." she said with a look that screamed "This conversation is over."

Deciding he had teased her enough, he remained quiet for the rest of the flight.

2015 ,X-COM Headquarters 4:12

"Sir, Vodoo 3-1 is landing at the moment." a communication specialist informed Bradford.

"Roger that, tell the commander to meet with me in the Skyranger bay, I want to talk to Delta 2. And send Doctor Vahlen too, he may require psychological attention." he informed the man behind the computer display."

"Commander White, you are needed in the Skyranger bay." the voice of his personal advisor rang.

Joseph White was a Colonel in the Royal Army when he was asked by a rather strange source, if he wanted to be part of X-COM. When the idea was explained to him, his answer was clear. Joseph always was a natural leader. And what would be a better position for a man like him then being the first and last defence of mankind. In the last few hours everything he thought would never happen, happened. Now he was in charge of defending earth and the first operation was already a failure.

At the moment he was walking or better said, running at a slow pace, to the Skyranger bay. He already knew why Bradford wanted him there. He was needed to talk to Delta 2, Santiago Martinez, the sole survivor of Delta-Squad, X-COM's first response unit.

When he got to the hangar bay Doctor Vahlen and Bradford were already talking to Mr. Martinez.

"Commander." Braford said as he saw Joseph.

"Sir." Martinez said saluting his commander.

"Operator Martinez." he said answering the salute. " I heard what happened, I am sorry for your squad."

"No need to be sorry Sir. They died doing their duty." the operator replied.

"I know and they will be remembered. But at the moment I need a squad leader. You have field now on you are leader of Strike-1, the attack team." Joseph said.

"Thank you Sir." the soldier replied.

"We will need you to go to the armory so we can find out which combat role you will asume, follow me Field-Agent Martinez." Bardford said naming Delta 2 by his new rank.

**A/N: **

**I know this is short. But I am sick and I wanted you to have at least something to read. Because in the next time I will be busy playing Enemy Within and trying to come up with fanfiction ideas, so it is possible that I will not post much in the next time since I have stuff to do in real life. So I will probably be inactive for two weeks or a bit less. Maybe I can write a chapter or two but don't get your hopes up. Sorry.**

**Anyways if you liked the chapter or have any idea how I can make this story better, tell me.**

**Till next time, your author.**

**Next up : X-COM's first mission :D**


	6. Chapter 4 Back in Berlin

2015 ,Berlin-Germany 8:57 am

Swen, René and Tim had been moving through the streets very carefully since they didn't know if there were more creatures around. They still didn't really know what had happened in the last eight hours, but they were certained that the army could use people with their skills so they tried to find a friendly unit for hours but the fact that they were moving very slowly through side streets and buildings meant that it took them hours to get to the closest unit.

"I think I see someone." Tim said lowering his rifle. He was the marksman of the squad so he had the scope with the highest resolution on his rifle. They had made stops at high buildings to look for a unit to regroup with.

"Yeah definitely one of us here take a look." he said giving Swen the rifle. It was a relief to see the camouflage-pattern of the german army after hours of not knowing what had happened they were desperate for answers.

"Okay what are we waiting for, let's get over there." René said preparing to get up.

"I don't know something is strange about this. Don't you think there would be a lot more going on? It has been awefully silent since the NH-90 crashed. I say we go down there, but we stay under the radar, let's not get reckless."

"Okay." his companions replied.

They made their way down to the first level of the building and got out of the door but still advancing with caution. It took them a couple of minutes to get to the place were they had seen their fellow soldier.

"Friendlies inbound 9 o'clock!" Swen screamed loud enough for everyone to hear it.

"Code!" came a reply.

"We don't know the fucking code. We were searching the whole city for a friendly unit since we were attacked!" Tim shouted back with a angry voice.

"Let them through." a older voice replied.

The three man came around the corner to find a few dozen men who looked like they had more then one fire fight in the last few hours.

"Name, Callsign, Unit." the commanding officer of the group asked Swen.

"Feldwebel Swen Baader. Aurora 1-6. FSLK 200."

"My turn I guess, I am Captain Müller. 2nd Company 401. Armored Infantry Battalion. You were part of the recon-unit who went in first right?"

"Yes we were. We are the only survivors the rest is dead."

"Command claimed your whole squad KIA. Better three survivors then no survivors."

"Sir, do you know what attacked Germany?"

"It's not just Germany Feldwebel, it happened all over the world. We already had some battles with these things... they weren't pretty I already have 7 deaths, and 15 wounded soldiers. I don't know who or what is attacking us but I can tell you we are at a serious disadvantage right now. When we are in a actual fire fight our numbers and tactics win the battle, but the problem is these things use hit and run attacks. They ambush us, shoot at us for a few minutes and when we start hitting them they run away."

"Okay Sir. Can you provide us a transport to get to a command post. We need to get back to our unit." Swen asked after taking in the information given by the captain.

"I think I can call in a chopper for you, when you can help me hold the line here until it arrives."

"We will stay here until our transport arrives. Thank you captain."

"No problem soldier. till this war is over we will need every special forces member we can get." The captain said heading of to the radio in the back of his command apc.

While Swen was talking to the captain René decided to sit down for a minute, after all he spent the last few hours sneaking through abandoned buidlings which were partly crushed by alien drop pods. He already had easier days.

He started looking at the people around him. Most of them looked very exhausted too. But the detail which was the most obvious were the expressions of the soldiers around him. While they looked calm and professional their eyes gave their true feelings away. Most of them stared into the nothing. He knew they had probably expierienced something very disturbing. But he figured asking them what happened would not be very smart.

One of the soldiers, a corporal, had approached René who was too distracted to notice so the man broke the silence.

"Do you need anything Sir?" he asked trying to lock eyes with René.

"Thank you but I am fine corporal." René replied finally looking in the eyes of his fellow soldier.

"Tell me, what happened. Most of your units members look rather... disturbed." René asked.

"It's these things... those pods who are all over the city... what they did to the people, I don't know what they did but I know one thing for sure... they people may be covered in this green stuff, but they are still alive. Chances are they are even consciousness."

"I think that is not the whole story, corporal, is it?" René pressed on.

"No it's not sir. The first aliens we encountered were doing something to them. They were sticking some kind of knife into them. I don't know happened after it but once they were beaten we tried to recover the people caught in this stuff... but what ever was this thing they stabbed into those poor souls, made the people we picked up dissolve... they just melted. Like they were ice in the hot sun. Just gone. I think that burned into their minds, the image of someone melting in their hands."

"Fuck I had no idea..." René muttered under his breath trying to imagine if there was anyway to save those caught by the machines.

"Command thinks it's some kind of fail-safe so we can't figure out how to get them free. I don't know about you sir. but I want to get back at those bastards for what they did."

"Save that anger for the next fight corporal." René said taking a look at his gun and checking the sights.

"I will sir. Thank you sir." the man said and walked off to his unit.

2015 somewhere in West-Poland 10:50 am

Joseph White had spent the last few hours reading through the dossier of Santiago Martinez, the lone survivor of Delta-Squad. Overall the man had quite a reputation. He was the youngest soldier to ever join the Special Operations Group of Argentinia. He also was highly decorated for a man of his age.

However his military career ended rather suprisingly. It didn't really seem normal for someone who already served 12 years in the military, most of those years in the military, to be discharged because he was no longer fit for duty. Something about Santiago's files were fishy, Joseph felt like there was something missing in the dossier he was given by the Council of Nations. It was not normal for X-COM dossiers to be censored, usually Joseph knew everything about his men, like he knew one of his new recruites was part of the DEVGRU, something which was not usually mentioned in a resume.

He was sure that sudden end of Field Agent Martinez's career had something to do with the Council. He would have to talk to his most experienced Operative some day. He didn't like being left in the dark.

"Commander, we need you in the Command Central immediately, we have x-ray activity in multiple places around the globe." Bradfords voice interrupted.

"Okay I am on my way."

Joseph rushed to the CC of the X-COM headquarters. He already knew he was forced to make a choice where X-COM was going to intervene and where the country's military would have to take over.

He took a look at the globe.

"So it's France, China or the United States, right?" Joseph asked.

"Yes, sir." Bradford answered.

"We will go to China this time, I think the United States and France can deal with the minor alien activity but if this reports are to be believed, China is getting hit harder then the other countries, but why?" Joseph asked trying to figure out the answer.

"I don't know sir, maybe there is something in China that's valuable to them?" Bradford replied.

"Send Strike-1 to the hangar. I want Martinez on the squad."

"I will tell them to get to the Skyranger Bay asap." Bradford said, ringing the alarm of the members who were supposed to be deployed this time.

Santiago was sitting at the bar of the barracks of the X-COM Base, something not every military facility had. He was about to drink his whisky when his alert sounded.

"Field Agent Martinez get to the Skyranger bay asap. You are going on a field trip." the voice of the central command officer sounded.

"Great I really wanted that drink." he said and started to dash to the armory.

**A/N: **

**Sooooooo, I am back. *yay* **

**No seriously I am horribly sorry it took me THIS long to get this chapter done but I really had important stuff to do in real life, I think I will stop making these "Next-Up's" because in the end I will never really live up to them. Sorry for that but I just feel like I have to end every chapter with something that makes you look forward to the next one, I know I am a bad person :D**

**So anyways I hoped you enjoyed the chapter, if you have any suggestions how I can improve, just tell me I will read it :)**

**Till the next time, your author.**


	7. Chapter 5 Time for Payback

2015, somewhere in Asia 12:25 am

Martinez had only needed six minutes from being at the bar of the barracks to sitting in the back of the Skyranger. First he had dashed to the Armory to grab his body armor and his new weapons, a light machine gun and a rocket launcher. Then he ran to the hangar. Now after almost two hours of flight he was sitting in the back of the plane with three other soldiers. They were only four people because at the moment X-COM was horribly understaffed because the aliens had only invaded eleven hours ago and the headquarters were still running on skeleton crew.

He knew that they were flying to a alien abduction in China so it would take them some time to get there. He thought it would be the best to get familiar with his squad members.

The first soldier that caught his eye was the american among them. He looked rather young and had dark skin and short black hair. Besides his assault rifle he carried a shotgun on his back so Santiago figured that he specialized in close quarter combat.

The women next to the afro-american was from Russia. The first thing Martinez noticed were her steel blue eyes. Her brown hair was tied to a ponytail. However unlike his american comrade she did not carry another gun. Instead she carried a backpack with a red cross on her back, marking her as the squads combat medic.

The last person theargentinier looked at was the canadian next to him. He seemed to be the tallest member of his team being almost two inches taller then Santiago who already towered over his teammates. He carried a sniper rifle, so Santiago knew that he was the designated marksman of the squad.

"So, who are you guys?" the american said breaking the silence.

"Santiago Martinez, former argentinian special forces. I was part of Delta-Squad but I think you all know what happened to them."

"What about you pretty one?" the afro-american said looking at the women next to him.

"Lina Kulibin. I spent six years with the Spetsnaz GRU. The next time you call me pretty one I will punch you in the face."

"Easy there." the man said with a suprised facial expression. He was silent for a few seconds until he said "You know pretty one is your new nickname, right?"

"Fuck you too." the russian women replied.

"If you help me..." the man muttered under his breath.

The american then turned to his canadian comrade "What about you big guy? Who are you?"

"The name is Kian Barker. I was a sniper in the JTF2. You give me a target, I hit it. But what about you? You keep asking questions. Now it's your turn to answer them.

"Okay. As you have already guessed I am from america. My name is Jacob Giles and I served seven years with the 75th Ranger Regiment. I enlisted with 19 after I finished highschool so I am only 26. I enjoy long walks on the beach..."

"We wanted to know who you are not hear your entire life story. That's enough dude." the canadian interrupted him causing everyone in the Skyranger to chuckle.

"But I like telling my life story." the man replied as sarcastic as possible.

"Why does this not suprise me?" the canadian asked to no one in particular.

"Because we are going to be best friends?" the ranger said with a huge grin on his face.

"Okay shut it you lovebirds. we are about to land" the pilot's voice boomed over the speakers.

"He can hear us?" the american asked suprised.

"Of course I can now get ready we will land in five minutes."

"You heard the man. Last minute checks everyone." Santiago said asuming his role as squad leader.

After a couple of more minutes of flying the Skyranger landed and the ramp lowered. The squad swarmed out going for the first possible cover they could find. Santiago took cover behind a car and started to take in the surroundings. They were in a rural town with some houses made out of wood but nothing special. His squad members too had taken cover behind various objects. The designated marksman was a bit behind everyone else already looking true his scope in order to find targets. The ranger and the russian already moved a bit forward with the ranger being ahead of the medic.

"Okay we will stick together from now on. Combat distance 5 meters. Advance slowly. " the field-agent ordered.

His fellow soldiers obeyed like the professionals they were. The american took point and made his way to the corner of a building. He slowly moved to the corner in order to take a look around it.

Suddendly the familiar fire of the alien weapons hit the wall a few inches away from the man.

"Contact. 20 meters. two fuckers" the man calmly said over the radio

"Copy that fire at will." Santiago ordered knowing that if there were only two of them they could take them out quickly. They would not be able to suprise them like last time. Now they had the edge.

The burst fire of an assault rifle disturbed the silence of the village. Santiago made his way to some rubble in order to flank the aliens. He saw how his sniper took aim.

*Bang* the high powered rifle sounded.

"One tango down boss." the sniper said over the radio.

"I can confirm that. You spilled this fuckers brain all over the place." the ranger added.

"Okay. Continue the advance, I will provide cover fire. Flank them Strike 1-4." Santiago said addressing the black man.

The american advanced under the fire burst of the machine gun moving in for the kill. He got into cover a few meters on the flank of the other alien, pulled out his shotgun and shot the creature in the side. It collapsed and acid coloured blood started to flow from his torso.

"Messy but effective." the canadian voiced his opinion over the radio.

"I think that's it for the mo..." the american was interruped by green lighting bolts impacting next to him.

"Holy shit I am pinned down here, I could use some help." he shouted between the fire burst of the aliens.

"I got this." Lina said.

Without any further delay two burst were heard and one of the attackers dropped dead his gun exploding into bits. The detonation of the wrist-mounted weapon seemed to distract the other being so Santiago used the opening to open fire. For 3 seconds Santiago pressed the trigger and at least 3 rounds hit the creature. It staggered but now focused his attention on Santiago suppresing him with bursts of his weapon.

"Damnit he is still standing." Santiago said crawling to the edge of the rubble he took shelter behind.

"This is for Delta-Squad you son of a bitch." he muttered before taking aim at the head of the alien and pressing the trigger once again. This time however the alien dropped for good not getting back on it's feet.

"I think we are good for now. I can't see anymore tangos in the area." the canadian informed the squad over the radio.

"Copy that Strike 1-2. Okay listen up squad. We will sweap the area if no further contacts are found we will call the cleaning crew."

Strike 1 searched the area for another ten minutes but did not find anything so Santiago contacted the X-COM Base.

"Central this is Strike 1. We have encountered four aliens. They are all KIA. I repeat four tangos KIA. We searched the area and did not encounter anymore hostiles. You can send in the scavengers to pick up the toys of the aliens for the lab coats, copy that?"

"Solid copy Strike 1. You can return to the base now. Local security forces will take over from this point." Bradford replied

"Copy that Central. Strike 1 over and out." Santiago ended the conversation.

"Okay guys we are done here let's get back home." Santiago informed his team.

"Fantastic I can finally beat that stupid level." Jacob said making his way to the Skyranger.

**A/N: So. I hope you liked the way I describe combat, if you don't tell me. I will read some differen X-COM fanfics to see how they write the fighting parts. If you wonder why this took me so long. Well I bought State of Decay... and sweet mother of jesus that game is awesome. If you liked the chapter or you want to add some usefull criticism you can review. **

**Now to the chapter related stuff. I decided to change the X-COM soldiers a bit since I thought it was ridicilous that someone would only carry a shotgun into battle so I decided to change that a bit. Also I found it ridicilous that you need a "expierenced" soldier in order to get more then four guys on your Skyranger, so I added the understaffed detail to explain it, after all X-COM soldiers are among the best in the world. The are all expierenced as hell. **

**Now I think this four guys will be the main characters in the story, I really enjoy writing Jacob tbh. I am going to have much fun with his character. I think he has great potential to become something that you will remember a long time after I finished this story. Or at least I hope I can write him that way. **

**Holy shit that was one long author note.**

**Till the next time, your author.**


	8. Chapter 6 A old Friend

2. March 2015, somewhere in Britain, 4:07 am

"I need your help." Dylan's voice said over the phone.

"Jesus Dylan. Have you any idea how early it is, this better be important." a tired voice grumbled.

"It is Frank, two days ago the Council called X-COM. You know what this means." Dylan replied.

"X-COM? holy shit, living away from society turned out to be worse then I though. I actually missed an alien invasion?" Frank asked, now very awake.

"Yes you did Frank, but they are not invading in a way you would imagine, there are just a few confirmed engagements with these aliens and after their pods landed we had next to none contact outside of the landing zones, however we are still in trouble."

"Okay, so I guess you need my help why else would you call me so early..."

"I do, Omega un-retired me because they need somebody to do their dirty work but I only agreed if I could do it my way therefore I need people I can rely upon. You have worked for the council before so I can think of no one better then you. Get ready you will be picked up in a few minutes, before you ask I already sent somebody because I knw you would say yes."

"You know me so well Dylan, I will be ready in five." Frank said with a hint of sarcasm on the first part.

"Good and Frank?"

"Yes?"

"Thanks."

"No problem brother."

Dylan hung up the phone and relaxed himself at least he now had somebody he could rely upon so maybe, but just maybe he would be able to return into retirement in one piece.

Frank had been a friend for almost 10 years now. Dylan first met him when he worked together with him for the council. Back then Frank had still been a Royal Marine Commando officer. He and his squad had assisted Dylan in a raid on a terror cell who knew of the existance of the council. The mission had been a high risk and it was only because of Frank that Dylan was still alive today.

The mission itself was not that dangerous but the fact that back then they had no intel on that cell made them unterestimate their ability, a mistake which turned out to be deadly.

26. July 2005, Belfast Northern Ireland, 1:21 am

"I think that's the target Dylan." Sam Hendrix, his partner informed him while looking through the sighting device which rested on the edge of roof they had taken position on.

"Yeah I can confirm that, he even has the same tatoo on his neck." Dylan answered getting the man into the sight of his sniper rifle.

"Omega, this is Vulture 1-1 we have the target into our sights, waiting for further orders." Sam whispered into his radio.

"Copy that Vulture 1-1, do not engage, I repeat do not engage. We need him alive. Wait for the commandos to get into position then help them to take out his guards." a cold voice replied that sounded surprisingly monotone.

"Roger that Vulture 1-1 over and out." Sam answered turning his radio silent again.

"He said we need that dude alive so we have to wait for the marines to get into position." Hendrix informed his partner.

"Great, then why the hell do they need us, I mean it's not like they couldn't take the few guards out themselfs." the young man said still looking through his sight.

"Better safe then sorry bro." his partner replied.

"Vulture 1-1 this is Wolf 1-1 we are in position, waiting for your go." the voice of the commander of the marines sounded over the radio.

"Copy that Wolf 1-1 you are clear to engage we got your back over." Sam answered.

"Okay, going in for the kill." the man whispered.

Dylan switched to a guard next to their target and pressed the trigger. A muffled shot broke the silence ofa back alley in Northern Irelands capital. The man next to the target collapsed with a hole in his head spilling his blood on the guard standing next to him who was stunned by the sudden death of his companion.

The next person he had in his sight collapsed before Dlyan could press the trigger. He moved his rifle to see if there were anymore targets only to find the remaining guards dead and a squad of special forces swarming the alley. Their target was left untouched until one operator knocked him to the ground pressing a pistol in his face.

"That's the point where we go down Dylan." Sam said picking up his gun while he moved to the door of the empty building they were hidding in. They made their way down the stairs into the back alley and were greeted by a soldier pointing their gun at them.

"Sir, if you would follow me." the man said taking down his rifle and gesturing into the direction of the sole survivor of the enemy.

"Vulture 1-1 I presume?" the man in charge of the unit asked.

"You presume right Lieutenant. I think we won't be alone long. Let's move our guest to a more... private area shall we?" Sam asked nodding his head into the building they came from.

"Sure. Okay guys I want that building locked down five minutes ago." the officer barked forcing his captive into the building.

Inside they tied the man down on a chair and Sam sat down facing him.

"Who is your boss." he asked in a polite way.

"Fuck you council dog." the man said spitting blood on Sam.

"That was not very nice. Dylan." the agent ordered.

"Will do boss." Dyland answered moving closer to the man and punching him into the face.

"I will ask again, who is your boss and how did you got your information?"

"I will tell you nothing. Nothing." the man replied with a notable russian accent.

"Oh I believe we can change your opinion on that." Sam said smirking, "Dylan do your thing."

Dylan flipped the chair the guy sat on to the ground and pressed his pistol against his knee.

"Talk." Sam demanded.

"Fuck you." the man replied.

"Dylan."

Without further questioning Dylan pressed the trigger on his supressed pistol and shattered the man's knee causing him to scream in pain.

"Okay, that was the nice way. Now talk or we will make this even more painful for you asshole."

"I said fuck you. You will get nothing out of me noth..." the man was cut short when gun fire erupted in front of the building.

"Sir his friends are here and there are many of them." the voice of a soldier said over the radio of the officer standing at the door of the room.

"We have to go. Now." Sam said looking at the operator.

"I know." the man said opening the door and moving to the staircase of the building.

"Okay listen up guys. We go the the extraction point. Now." he ordered over the radio.

"Sir I am afraid we won't make that" his second-in-command answered.

"What the fuck are you talking about Presley?" the officer demanded to know.

"I am sorry sir there were too ma..." a gun shot silenced the soldier and the Lieutenant was half way outside when Sam stopped him.

"No, it's too late. They are dead. We have to get this fucker out of here elseway they died for nothing." Sam said pointing his finger at the man lying on the floor.

"I think moving him could be quite difficult considering your friends work." the officer said keeping his eyes and his gun locked on the staircase.

"You are right. Okay last chance talk or suffer fucker." Sam said drawing a knife.

"You will all die in this house like your soldier friends did." the man said again spitting at Sam.

"Wrong answer sweety." Sam said moving his knife to the left hand of the man and pressing the blade against his finger just strong enough to draw blood.

"Are you sure you don't want to talk?" Sam asked one last time.

"Fuck. Yo AAAAAAAAAAAAGRH" the man screamed.

"I told you. Now talk." Sam said moving to the next finger.

"You will never stop us. We were here long before you and under our reign humanity will advance to it's next form. You either follow us or you die it's easy. EXALT will never perish."

As Sam was about to find out more he was cut short by gun fire in the staircase.

"WE GO. NOW!" the Lieutenant screamed firing moving down the stairs while shooting at somebody in the back alley.

"Pity we could not know each other better." Sam said drawing his pistol and shooting the captive without hesitation.

"Dylan let's move" the agent said picking up his gun.

**A/N: I am so so so so so so so sorry that you had to wait so long for this joke of a chapter. I just had no idea what I wanted to do, so I decided to add a bit of a filler here in form of Dylan's back story and a bit of EXALT Action, why EXALT already you ask? And why the year 2005? It's easy, I had no idea what I wanted to write. No jk we already know they have LONG history from the *SPOILER* raid on their HQ in Enemy Within *SPOILER* Anyways I am afraid that I won't update as often as I did in the beginning because I am lacking ideas as I already said 1000 times. Sorry again. Anyways I wish you merry christmas or whatever and happy holidays and a FANTASTIC start into the new year ;)**

**Till the next time, your author.**


	9. Chapter 7 Long Night in Belfast

26. July 2005, Belfast Northern Ireland, 1:43 am

Dylan, Sam and the last man of the commando unit had made their way down stairs were they were greeted by small arms fire from the outside. While the aim of their attackers were far off they made up for it in sheer number of bullets which supressed the three men and forced them to hunker down next to the windows and the few corpses of the enemies who had dared to come up the stairs.

"Who are they?" Dylan barked while reloading his rifle.

"I have no idea just shoot them!" the commando replied.

"Guess what I am doing." Dylan answered rising from his cover and taking aim once more. It didn't look good for them to begin with they were outnumbered and far away from the evac-zone but atleast they had gottten a bit of information out out of their target before dispatching him so the operation wasn't in vain however they still had to get out of it in one piece. They had already called for a helicopter in order to bug them out but their council contact said that the pilot couldn't land in the proximity because it would "cause too much attention" as if a shoot-out in a back alley at 2 am would not cause attention. Dylan was sure the sudden caution of their contact had something to do with the fact that they were unable to capture their target alive.

"I see a opening!" Sam cried from the other side of the room pointing his hand to a truck standing a few meters in front of the door.

"If we can make it there we can drive of with their van and they are not going to follow us if they have no car right?" Sam explained.

"Yeah sounds fine to me. You two go I'll cover you." the soldier ordered.

"Okay ready Dylan?"

"After you Hendrix." the young agent offered.

The two men climbed out of the window and made a dash for the side of the car all while their third man covered them with short bursts of assault rifle fire aimed at the opposite end of the alley where their attackers swarmed with at least a dozen rifle men.

"Okay we are good now you!" Dylan bellowed to their ally.

The soldier didn't wait for another word and ran in their direction relying on them to cover him and of course Sam and Dylan did just that. Dylan had already peeked out of his cover and started firing his gun. His unfortunate target jerked as a burst of 3 bullets ripped open his torso and yowl in pain before he dropped his rifle and collapsed to the ground however he appeared to be still alive because one of his fellows tried to drag him into cover behind some crates only for Sam to take care of him. A single well aimed bullet punctured his skull and caused him to drop without further ado. Meanwhile their last man had made it to the van.

"Okay listen up!" , Sam barked, "Lieutenant you go to the back of the van, you will shoot at anyone who follows us. Dylan you drive."

His allies didn't question Sam's orders and withint 15 seconds Dylan started the motor of the vehicle while their commando soldier took position in the back of their getaway car and closed one of the doors so he could have some cover. They raced to the extraction point and on the way Dylan started to think Sam knew more then he had told him.

"So Sam, what are what are you not telling me?" Dylan said keeping his eyes on the road.

"What do you mean?" responded Sam looking at Dylan.

"I know you long enough to know when you are hiding something." Dylan pressed his question onward, "What is this EXALT?"

"Dylan there is a reason you are kept on a need-to-know basis and you are aware of it."

"Start talking I want to know what this is all about." Dylan said still driving to their extraction point.

"Okay, as you know we were after somebody who knew the council exists and threatend to reveal that to the public. But what you don't know is how he got that information and why we had to make sure that his men didn't got him back right?" Sam said looking at Dylan from the passenger seat

"Yeah now come to the point." his fellow agent said driving around a corner.

"The man is part of a organisation, they call themselfs EXALT and they appear to be old and by old I mean older then the United States. They seem to have insider information on the council and appear to have more influence then we thought. They just took down a commando team and had at least 20 guys at the ready to get in and take back their man. We underestimated them. I will mention that in my report and so should you."

"That is not the point. I want to know stuff about them, not about our connection with them." Dylan replied taking a look at the door mirror.

"That's all I know about them, believe me Dylan. Besides we have company." Sam said raising his hands in a defensive way

"I know." Dylan said speeding up the car.

"Lieutenant get ready back there." Sam shouted into the back of the van.

"I am always ready." the man replied taking aim at one of the cars.

A few seconds later the window on the passenger side of the car behind them opened and a man climbed out with a drawn pistol. This action repeated itself on the two remaining doors of the car. Before on of them could shoot however the soldier already started to take them out.

BANG.

The first enemy to be hit was the one behind the driver. The bullet went straight through his heart and caused the man to slide back into the car, dead. His friends now opened fire, with a metallic clink bullets impacted the side of the van and bounced off revealing the car to be armored in some way.

BANG.

Another shot of the soldier hit the other man on the back bench of the car. Unlike his accomplice however he did not slide back into the car but instead fell out of the window and hitting the street, hard enough to leave behind a red stain where he impacted. His twisted form soon disappeard out of the view as the chase in the streets of Belfast continued. Their pursuer now started to gain speed as the remaining man continued taking potshots at the van.

BANG.

The third shot was not aimed at the man shooting at him. The soldier wanted to get rid of them so he had aimed for the tire of the car. With a loud peng it exploded and the car behind them started to lose control causing the driver to jerk the steering wheel in order to stay behind the van. His effort proved to be useless as the commando took two more shoots. One hit the last gunner who died instantly because his brain was now splattered on the street. The second shot hit the remaining front wheel. The car finally lost control, turned to it's side and started to roll over violently.

"Nice work back there LT. Besides what's your name?" Sam asked cheerfully.

"It's Frank Stone." the man replied as he exchanged the clip of his rifle.

"Fantastic Frank. Good thing we have you." the agent said. "Okay Dylan now you just have to turn into that street there and we are good."

"Will do." Dylan replied preparing to make the turn. He was however interrupted when something rammed into their side. The van too rolled over and Dylan blacked out.

In the back of the van Frank was thrown around like a doll due to the lack of safety harness but unlike Dylan he did not lose consciousness and immediatly went for his pistol after he was unable to find his SA80 and coming to the conclusion it was thrown out during their little "car accident". He slowly crawled out of the van which was now lying on the driver's side.

"I said where is our man you council dog?" an angry voice shouted followed by a audible punch. Sam defiantly looked into the eyes of his interrogator.

"Dead. I shot him you fucker. What are you going to do about it?" he spat blood out with that last sentence effectively ruining the trousers of one of the attackers.

"If that's the case..." the man said drawing his pistol and pressing it against Sam's head, "we are done with you."

PENG.

The shot echoed through the streets. Frank was angry, two executions under on his mission, unaccaptable. He didn't had enough time to save Sam but now everything started to play in slow-motion. While one of the executioners started to drag Dylan out of the car Frank fired of the first shot causing the man in front of him to collapse. Another two quick shots another two enemies collapsed. Now only Sam's murderer was left. The terrorist turned to face Frank but he was faster. Three shots hit the man into the abdomen he dropped to one knee but still managed to get of a shot hitting Frank's upper torso. He felt burning sensation followed by a warm feeling. The shot had not only wounded Frank but also made him lose his pistol and caused him to collapse to the floor. The man had a smug grin on his face and crept closer to Frank who now lay on the street bleeding out.

"Looks like it's my turn." he laughed taking aim at Frank from his crouched position. As he was about to press the trigger somebody was faster than him. A silenced shot ended the life of Sam's murderer. A soldier who looked strangely like a member of Frank's unit stepped up behind him and barking orders and gesturing to Frank and Dylan but that didn't matter to Frank now, he slowly drifted into the unconsciousness and the last thing he saw was a soldier who tried to stop him from bleeding out.

15 hours later...

Frank woke up and saw a white light.

"Am I dead?" he asked confused.

"No but you were close to it. You saved my life out there man." Dylans voice said from his right. Frank turned his head and saw the young man sitting next ot his bed.

"No seriously. Thank you. Without you I would have ended like Sam,god grant his soul peace." his only visitor said with a sorrow expression.

"Sorry about him. I was not fast enough, it's my fault." Frank said with a equally dark tone in his voice.

"It's not your fault it's their's. They killed him. Not you, you are a hero." Dylan assured Frank with a understanding look, "But Sam is not why I am here, I am here because my boss want's you as my new partner." the agent continued, "after all Sam need's a worthy replacement, what do you say?" he finished looking at Frank.

"Sounds good, I'll think about it."

10 years later...

Dylan stared at the ceiling and opened a drawer taking out a bottle of whisky. He opened it and filled his class with it. He took a moment to look at the yellow-brownish content of his glas and raised it into the air

"To you Sam" he murmured. "and all the other's I've lost down the road." and with that he downed the whole glas. He then considered drinking another glas but decided against it. Instead he drank the whole bottle...

**A/N: So, another chapter. Happy new year guys. I know this flash back was rather pointless but I wanted to give Dylan a bit more back ground and explain why he is the way he is, you will find out what I mean by that later on I have planed much for him.**

**This time I actually don't have to make any excuses since this update was not delayed so bad like the last one, therefore,**

**Till next time, your author.**


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